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As an angel investor and a star on ABC's reality show Shark
Tank, tech
billionaire Mark
Cuban meets countless aspiring entrepreneurs who think they
have the next great idea. So what separates the phenoms from the
flops? Among several things, a passion for working hard and
blowing their competition out of the water, he says.

Cuban knows a thing or two about hard work and making sacrifices.
Shortly after college, Cuban lived in a three-bedroom apartment
with five other guys, slept on the floor and ate $1.29 chicken
dinners as he worked on launching a hardware and software
integration company called MicroSolutions. "It allowed me to stay
focused on turning MicroSolutions into a $30 million
business."

Cuban is now the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks
basketball team and chairman of cable network HDNet Inc. In an
email interview, we discussed what's helped him find success in
the tech business and how others can, too.

Entrepreneur: What's key to being successful as a technology
entrepreneur?Cuban: Busting your ass. It's not about money or
connections -- it's the willingness to outwork and outlearn
everyone when it comes to your business. And if it fails, you
learn from what happened and do a better job next time.

As I say in my book, "it doesn't matter how many times
you fail. You only have to be right once and then everyone can
tell you that you are an overnight success."

Entrepreneur:What was the one thing
that helped you the most in becoming a success?Cuban: I was relentless in learning new tech as
it came out. If it had anything to do with the PC or networking
industry I was on top of it. I bought manuals. I read every book
and magazine. Then I would get involved with industry conferences
and put myself out there.

Entrepreneur:When did you know you'd
made the leap from small-time to big-time? What
changed?Cuban: At MicroSolutions, it was when we had
much bigger companies coming to us for high-end technical
knowledge and support -- and when I passed $1 million in the
bank. That was a nice thing to happen at about age 28 or so.

Entrepreneur:Who is your tech
hero?Cuban: CNN founder Ted Turner. Most people don't
see him as a tech guy, but he recognized the value of satellite
technology and cable far before most anyone else.

Entrepreneur:What's a day in the life
of Mark Cuban like?Cuban: My days are straight out of the movie
Groundhog Day. I wake up, check my email, news feeds and
eat. I kiss my wife and kids, and get them to school. I come home
and get back in front of my computer. I'll go workout. I'll play
with the kids when they come home. I'll sit in front of my
computer some more. If there is a Mavs game I check my email at
breaks and go to my computer at halftime. After the game, I do
the same thing until I go to bed.